I first came to hear of Baa Baa Black Sheep while watching a YouTube upload of Battle of the Network Stars. An episode in which its star and Captain of ‘Team NBC’, Robert Conrad, suffered irreversible damage to his legendary ego when Gabe Kaplin (Welcome Back, Kotter) impressively out-sprinted him. When I saw that Via […]
DVD Review: Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV 1976-1978) Read More »
Miniseries haven’t decreased in popularity, but like most television these days, they’re designed for binge-watching. However, Via Vision has recently unearthed a traditional classic two-parter, The Murder of Mary Phagan, available now on DVD for the very first time in Australia. Based on a true story, Leo Frank (Peter Gallagher) a factory manager in Atlanta,
DVD Review: The Murder of Mary Phagan (TV 1988) Read More »
War movies are often told from the “good guys” perspective, depicting tales of triumph and courage in a very black and white fashion. Although, a more balanced take was attempted with the Hollywood epic, The Longest Day, in which the monumental D-Day landing portrayed a gung-ho Allied force against an over-confident German war machine. Another
DVD Review: All Quiet on the Western Front (TV 1979) Read More »
Screened on British television over two nights to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Whitechapel murders, Jack the Ripper re-ignited the public’s fascination with the now mythical cloaked killer. Available now on DVD from Via Vision Entertainment this award-winning two-parter stars Michael Caine stars as Scotland Yard Inspector Frederick Abberline, a skilled but hard-drinking
DVD Review: Jack the Ripper (TV 1988) Read More »
High school sucked; as it did for countless many. Chalk it down to natural law, but there was always comfort through television and film, my preferred means of escape. Freaks and Geeks came to Australia a little after it aired in the United States, but the ill-fated series had even less of a chance here
Blu-ray Review: Freaks and Geeks (TV 1999-2000) Read More »
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, his initials especially, still live in the public lexicon, spanning generations. His name is synonymous with hope, equality, progress and of course, countless conspiracy theories pertaining to his public assassination. He’s been portrayed on screen many times by actors ranging from Cliff Robertson to Michel C. Hall, but in between for the
DVD Review: Kennedy (TV Mini-Series 1983) Read More »
Via Vision Entertainment has really stepped things up this year in bringing more classic television to physical media, including the ground-breaking series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which came in two separate box sets. Seasons Five to Seven, spanning from 1959 to 1962, is the latter half and arguably a more refined and creative offering of 25-minute
DVD Review: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Seasons Five – Seven) Read More »
Stemming from its meagre beginning as a penal colony for the British Empire, Australia has developed a colourful criminal history over the two centuries that followed. This unlawful element of the past I think has been glamorized far too often in recent years through numerous overly embellished television series. However, before this tacky trend began,
DVD Review: Blue Murder (TV 1995) Read More »
Amazingly, Pay-TV still operates in Australia, even though they’re all but redundant, but during its glory days in the late 90s, the previously absorbed, Austar, was my gateway to classic television. Alfred Hitchcock Presents was one of many shows that piqued the interest of my young curious mind, but I quickly found myself in The
DVD Review: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Seasons One – Four) Read More »
Law and Order set the standard of police procedural shows while creating an entire generation of armchair experts, but it was the Baltimore-based cop drama, Homicide Life on the Street, that pushed the envelope and boundaries of network television. Now the landmark series has returned to DVD in one impressively sized box set from Via
DVD Review: Homicide – Life on the Street (TV 1993-1999) Read More »